Yanglang culture

Yanglang culture
Location of the Yanglang culture (), with contemporary cultures in the 6th–5th century BCE
Geographical rangeNingxia, Gansu
Dates6th–3rd century BCE
Major sites36°00′36″N 106°15′25″E / 36.01°N 106.257°E / 36.01; 106.257
Preceded byOrdos culture (800–150 BCE)
Shajing culture (800–200 BCE)[1]
Followed byQin dynasty

The Yanglang culture (杨郎青铜文化, 6th–3rd century BCE) is an early archeological culture of northwestern China, mainly identified by burial grounds in the southern part of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and in the adjacent Qingyang County of eastern Gansu. The culture is named after the Bronze culture Yanglang cemetery (杨郎墓地), excavated in 1989 in Guyuan, Ningxia.[2] Other sites are the Pengbao cemetery (彭堡墓地) and Wang Dahu cemetery (王大户墓地). These sites are characterized by Chinese archaeology as belonging to the "Northern Bronze cultures of the Spring and Autumn Period" (春秋战国北方青铜文化), related to the Xirong (西戎) people. The famous Majiayuan site is considered as representative of the end of the Yanglang culture.[3]

The Yanglang culture is thought to have been directly or indirectly connected to the Saka (Scythian) culture, with suggestions of direct prenetration of Saka groups into North China.[3] The animal style of the funeral artifacts in particular connects it to the world of the steppes.[4][3][5] In particular, the decorated chariots and many artifacts have strong resemblance with Saka objects from the Issyk-kul kurgan.[6]

  • Gold belt plaques in animal style found in Majiayuan M4, Gansu.[7]
  • Gold plate in the form of walking feline found in Majiayuan M3, Gansu.[7] The animal style of the funeral artifacts in particular connects it to the world of the steppes.[4][8]
  • Majiayuan tomb figurines.[9]

References

  1. ^ Li, Xin; Wei, Wenyu; Ma, Minmin; Lu, Minxia; Du, Linyao; Yang, Yishi; Chen, Guoke; Ren, Lele (2023). "Transformation of animal utilization strategies from the late Neolithic to the Han Dynasty in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China: Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic evidence". Frontiers in Earth Science. 10. Bibcode:2023FrEaS..1064803L. doi:10.3389/feart.2022.1064803. ISSN 2296-6463.
  2. ^ Xu, C., Li, J., Wei, Z., Han, X. & Yan, S. (1993). Ningxia Guyuan Yanglang qingtong wenhua mudi (宁夏固原杨郎青铜文化墓地: Bronze culture cemetery at Yanglang, Guyuan, Ningxia). Kaogu xuebao (考古学报: Acta Archaeologica Sinica), 1, 13–56.
  3. ^ a b c Shulga, P.I.; Shulga, D.P. (2020). "The Cultures of the Early Iron Age in China as a Part of the Scythian World" (PDF). МАИАСП. 12. doi:10.24411/2713-2021-2020-00004. Until recently, the Yanglang culture was practically unknown to archaeologists in the postSoviet area. It did not attract "Western" researcher's attention although the materials were published there (Bunker 1997: 41—46). The situation changed after elite burials at the Majiayuan burial ground of the 3rd — 2nd centuries BCE excavation. A peculiar Animal style from Majiayuan gave rise to ideas about its indirect links with Saka culture. There were even suggestions about groups of Saka masters penetration into North China. There, these masters allegedly created wonderful decorations in Majiayuan and Xinchuangtou (M30) (Kang 2018: 410). The position of Wu Xiaolong seems to be more balanced; he pointed to the Yanglang culture funeral rite and animal style characteristic features which are clearly visible in Majiayuan (Gansu sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 2014; Yang, Linduff 2013; Xiaolong 2013). To date, the Yanglang culture is the most representative Scythian culture of the 6th — 3rd centuries in North China. Only there elite burials (Majiayuan) have been identified, and all the "triad" components are present: Animal style, weapons and horse harness. Most of the known Yanglang culture burial grounds are located in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region southern part, as well as in adjacent Qingyang County of Gansu eastern part.
  4. ^ a b Liu, Yang (1 January 2021). "The Eurasian Nomadic Origins of Animal Imagery in the Gold, Silver and Bronze Ornaments Excavated from the Majiayuan Cemetery". 《秦与戎——秦文化与西戎文化十年考古成果展》，文物出版社.
  5. ^ Burman, Edward (8 February 2018). Terracotta Warriors: History, Mystery and the Latest Discoveries. Orion. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-4746-0611-0.
  6. ^ Linduff, Katheryn (2013). "A Contextual Explanation for "Foreign" or "Steppic" Factors Exhibited in Burials at the Majiayuan Cemetery and the Opening of the Tianshan Mountain Corridor". Asian Archaeology.
  7. ^ a b Liu, Yan; Li, Rui; Yang, Junchang; Liu, Ruiliang; Zhao, Guoxing; Tan, Panpan (26 April 2021). "China and the steppe: technological study of precious metalwork from Xigoupan Tomb 2 (4th–3rd c.BCE) in the Ordos region, Inner Mongolia". Heritage Science. 9 (1): 46. doi:10.1186/s40494-021-00520-5. ISSN 2050-7445.
  8. ^ Shulga, P.I.; Shulga, D.P. (2020). "The Cultures of the Early Iron Age in China as a Part of the Scythian World" (PDF). МАИАСП. 12: 141, Fig.6 item 14. doi:10.24411/2713-2021-2020-00004.
  9. ^ See Linduff, Katheryn (2013). "A Contextual Explanation for "Foreign" or "Steppic" Factors Exhibited in Burials at the Majiayuan Cemetery and the Opening of the Tianshan Mountain Corridor". Asian Archaeology: 81, Figure 6 (Majiayuan Tomb 3).
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.